Month: April 2009

As river rises, so does tension

Posted by ehusar – April 30, 2009

It’s way too early to get excited about anything.

However, with all the rain we’ve been seeing lately and with all the 500-year floods we’ve had in recent years, don’t be surprised if folks in the river bottoms start getting a little edgy.

Heavy rain the past few days, including up to four inches in parts of Northeast Missouri over one 24-hour stretch, caused flash flooding along many small creeks and rivers. It also caused the Mississippi River to rise within a foot of Quincy’s 17-foot technical flood stage by late afternoon Thursday.

Then the National Weather Service issued a flood warning Thursday, predicting the Mississippi could reach 20.3 feet at Quincy by Monday. At 20 feet, Clat Adams Bicentennial Park, just north of Memorial Bridge, starts to go under water.

Also, as a precaution, the city of Hannibal planned to put in flood gates at Hill and at Center streets Friday. The Mississippi River stood at 16.7 feet Thursday, but was expected to rise to 20.8 feet by Monday. Flood stage is 16 feet.

While that in itself isn’t too worrisome, consider what’s been happening so far this year with precipitation. Weather statistics released Thursday by Lock and Dam 21 show 6.65 inches of rain were logged in Quincy during April. That put the cumulative total for the first four months of 2009 at 13.61 inches. That’s already higher than the 12.01 inches logged during the first four months of 2008 — the year of the second-worst flood on record. In 1993, the year of the worst flood, 9.96 inches of precipitation fell during the first four months.

With more rain and thunderstorms in the forecast for Dogwood Festival weekend, people all over the region are going to be watching, and talking about, the weather and what it might bring.

People with short memories might have forgotten it was on June 12 of last year when Mayor John Spring declared a state of emergency, and the city began making plans to launch a sandbagging operation at the Oakley-Lindsay Center. This came after the National Weather Service warned the river might reach 30 feet by the middle of that month. The river finally crested at 30.8 feet on June 18, well shy of the record 32.2 feet set on July 13, 1993.

No worries. There’s still plenty of time for the river to go down. Or up. Or sideways. Only Mother Nature knows the cards this flood-weary region will be dealt.

City Council partisanship rears its head

Posted by ehusar – April 28, 2009

Monday’s contentious City Council meeting may have been a preview of what’s to come.

The meeting featured three issues that were ultimately decided by the votes of Mayor John Spring after the issues became deadlocked along partisan lines.

In each case, seven Democratic aldermen — Ben Bumbry, Virgil Goehl, Steve Duesterhaus, David Bauer, Robert Klingele, Raymond “Skip” Vahlkamp and Richard Reis — voted in favor of the proposals. Meanwhile, all five Republicans — Paul Havermale, Mike Farha, Tony Sassen, Mike Rein and Jennifer Lepper — teamed up to vote no.

Since eight votes are needed to pass certain types of ordinances involving spending — and two Democratic aldermen, Jack Holtschlag and John Veith, were absent Monday — Spring’s deciding votes became critical to pass the city’s budget and the proposed water and sewer rate increases.

More of the same may be in the offing once the council’s political makeup is transformed from a 9-5 Democratic majority to a 7-7 Democratic/Republican split.

This even split will become a reality Monday when two newly elected Republicans — Kyle Moore and Dan Brink — are sworn in to replace Klingele and Veith, whom they defeated in the April 7 municipal elections.

The 7-7 split still favors the Democrats, since Spring, the Democratic mayor, will still be able to break ties or provide an eighth vote when needed. But the most interesting scenarios will emerge when somebody is absent — as happened Monday when the two Democratic aldermen couldn’t attend.

The first time a Democratic alderman misses a meeting — and all the Republicans show up — the Republicans will be sitting there with smiles on their faces, knowing for the first time in years they can control the vote on certain ordinances, resolutions and motions.

Even though many aldermen, including both newcomers, insist partisan politics shouldn’t play much of a role in City Council activities, it won’t take long to find out if the partisanship question is fact or fiction.

You can be sure of this: Lots of people will be watching closely.

Barnard’s decision on Niekamp could have repercussions

Posted by dadam – April 11, 2009

niekamp-bud01a

Melvin 'Bud' Niekamp

Tongues were wagging late last week when it was reported that Adams County State’s Attorney Jon Barnard plans to ask Attorney General Lisa Madigan to render an opinion on whether Melvin “Bud” Niekamp, the top vote-getter in the Quincy School Board race, should have to step down from either the School Board or the Adams County Board.

Barnard wants to find out once and for all if it’s “incompatible” for an individual to serve simultaneously in two elected positions — an issue that’s been debated here for years. Niekamp has been on the School Board since 1989 and on the County Board since 1992.

Bill Hrudicka

Bill Hrudicka

If Madigan takes up the issue, her opinion could have some big repercussions — and not just for Niekamp, who said he would relinquish his School Board seat if forced to choose one over the other.

Another Adams County Board member, Don McCleary, was just re-elected Tuesday to the Liberty School Board. He — and many others around the region who hold two elected positions — could find themselves in the same boat as Niekamp.

‘They have not heard the last of me’

A Republican who came out on the losing end — 2nd Ward aldermanic candidate William “Bill” Hrudicka — also told The Herald-Whig he plans to jump back into the political fray at some point, even though he got clobbered by a 70-30 margin by Democratic incumbent Dave Bauer.

“I accomplished two goals,” Hrudicka said. “Dave found out he had some competition, which wasn’t much. And the name ‘Hrudicka’ was learned how to be pronounced in Quincy again.”

Hrudicka, who lived in Quincy years ago before moving back, believes this election enabled him to get his foot in the political door. And now that he’s armed with a little name recognition, he’s planning to wedge the door open further next time.

“They have not heard the last of me,” he said. “I’ll still be a thorn in their sides.”

I’m Back — Just in Time for the Elections

Posted by ehusar – April 6, 2009

After being sidelined for the past month recovering from spinal surgery, I’m finally back to work full-time.

Thanks to everybody for the notes, calls and good wishes. Now it’s back to business.

• • •

I’m returning to action just in time for Tuesday’s elections. Have I missed anything fun?

bellis-spring-1a Actually, the mayoral race between incumbent Democrat John Spring and Republican challenger Dave Bellis was pretty tame during the past month. Hardly a tremor could be felt on the political Richter scale. But things have picked up steam in the past week.

As everyone knows by now, Bellis caused rumblings when he called a press conference last week to raise some red flags about the city’s hydroelectric proposal — one of the big projects for the future being pushed by Spring. Spring, for his part, rubbed some people the wrong way with his political ads taking credit for jobs to be created by the hydropower project, which is still in the exploratory stage.

Bellis also generated some ink when he sent out a mailer that attempted to link Spring to our disgraced former governor, Rod Blagojevich, who was indicted last week. The flyer made reference to “dirty” political contributions made to both Spring and Blagojevich from “corrupt Chicago businessmen.”

Then Bellis stirred the pot even more during Thursday’s League of Women Voters debate when he charged Spring with accepting “unethical” campaign contributions from Chicago sources.

“Some of them are convicts,” he said. “It’s just not right. It’s not ethical.”

This drew a stern response from a clearly offended Spring, who challenged Bellis to document his allegations.

“Every penny that I’ve taken is ethical,” Spring told the crowd.

But perhaps the biggest flap emerged this weekend when Bellis sent out another mailer that attempted to paint Spring in a bad light by suggesting he’s part of a wide-ranging political “family” with relations who have jobs in city or county government.

The flyer listed 16 relatives of former Alderman Terry Grussenmeyer, current Alderman Richard Reis and Spring. It said: “Mayor John Springs’ (sic) friends, friends’ children, friends’ childrens’ husbands and wives are together costing us More than One Million Dollars a Year!”

The mailer arrived at many Quincy homes over the weekend, and it didn’t leave Spring much time to respond. However, Spring quickly sent out a press release denouncing the “negative campaign tactics.” He said the mailer “shows the desperation” of Bellis’ campaign.

The press release said the mailer “strongly suggests that Mayor Spring has been responsible for hiring many of his family members and friends to city and other government jobs.” Spring added: “There is not a single person mentioned in this entire mailer who was hired by my administration.”

Spring was particularly peeved that the mailer made reference to his wife, Karen, who has worked for the Adams County Health Department for the past 15 years.

“My wife Karen has been an accomplished and professional registered nurse for over 40 years and was hired on her own merit by the Adams County Health Department long before I became mayor and long before I ever became active in politics,” Spring said.

“When I saw today that Mr. Bellis had included a specific reference to my wife in his negative campaign mail piece, I was upset and disappointed that Mr. Bellis and his campaign had stooped to this new low in attacking my own wife. What kind of man attacks his election opponent’s family? Is that who we want leading our city?”

When contacted by telephone today, Bellis said the mailer was simply designed to show voters that “a lot of money is being spent on family” in local government.

“I don’t really have much to say about it. It’s just to let people know where their tax dollars are going,” he said. “I’ll just let it speak for itself.”

7th Ward Preview: Jack Holtschlag

Posted by dadam – April 3, 2009

Holtschlag, JackAge: 43

Political Party: Democrat

Family: Wife, Lori; Children, Ben, Simon and Sam

Occupation: owner of JH Concrete Construction Inc.

Political Experience: Appointed by Mayor John Spring to replace Ken Sparrow as 7th Ward alderman in June 2006; ran unopposed in 2007 and was elected to fulfill remainder of Sparrow’s term.

Other Interests: member of Blessed Sacrament Church

Top Issues:

• Abandoned property. “We have so much trouble with abandoned properties. When I used to get a call from someone saying this house needs to be torn down, I was like, ‘Just tear the sucker down.’ But we can’t just take people’s property. People don’t understand the course you have to go.”

• Sidewalks. “People want them fixed, but they don’t want me to let their neighbor know they were the ones who called to complain.”

• Property taxes. “That’s a big one. I get a lot of calls from people saying, ‘Why did my property tax go up?’”

On the future of hydroelectric in Quincy:

“I’m highly, highly for it. I haven’t talked to anybody who was against it. Quincy is so fortunate to have someone like (Mike) Klingner (with Klingner & Associates). I call him ‘The Mark Twain of the Mississippi.’ That guy knows the river. From what I’ve heard, they can’t believe this wasn’t done years ago. Now’s a good time to get in, with the federal government and all this green energy. As far as the money, I believe there will be a greater return on our investment. I think it’s gong to be something phenomenal.”

On how the city handled the firefighter controversy:

“I thought it was handled properly. You can’t bury it under the rug. I thought (Mayor John Spring) handed it the proper way. Those guys, that’s why they were represented by a union. The money that was spent (on lawyers), yes, it was a tremendous amount, but I don’t think you could have brushed it under the rug. If it could have went to the courts, that’s one thing, but any time you’re with an arbitrator, either you win or you lose.”

The last word:

“I do so much traveling with my job, and when it comes to the economy, Quincy hasn’t seen nothing like other parts of the country. It’s hard times out in Ohio. In Quincy, they lost a few hundred jobs at Knapheide and Gardner Denver, but when you see a place that shuts down 3,000 jobs in Ohio, now that’s huge. I know people are asking, ‘Are we going to get the jobs?’ Well, we’ve got Prince and Fitzpatrick coming in. There’s some places I’ve been where there would be people would love a job at Sam’s.”

2nd Ward Preview: Dave Bauer

Posted by dadam – April 1, 2009

bp530386Age: 48

Political party: Democrat

Family: Wife Patty and children Andrew, Megan and Dakota.

Occupation: owner, Bauer Auto Center, 609 Jefferson, for 19 years

Political experience: Completing his first four-year term as alderman; appointed to replace 40-year council veteran Eugene “Smoky” Mueller in 2005, ran unopposed in 2005

Other interests: Members of St. Francis Church

Top issues:

• Sidewalks. “We get a lot of people requesting sidewalks. Either they haven’t had them, or they are in disrepair. It seems that here lately, we’ve run out of time as fas as getting them done through the summer. We’re always asked to put down the six highest priorities on a list. It’s not unusual for your request to be on a list for a couple of years.”

• Abandoned property. “We’ve been knocking down about three a year in our ward, and it’s about all the money we have to demolish old places. (Before being named to the City Council,) I just assumed that people abandoned their houses so we could just knock them down. Well, you can’t just go do that. There’s more in our ward that we need to do, but you just run out of time and money. I have probably got five or six already in the works right now, and it wouldn’t surprise me if there’s not another 15 or 20 more.”

• Streets. “We’ve got streets that are in dire need of repair. Some we’re holding off on, because we know the sewers are in bad shape. There are some part of College between 20th and 22nd where the sewers are bad there. There also are a couple of places if we could just fix the curb and gutter, we would have a whole section of some streets done instead of just a little bit here and there.”

On the future of hydroelectric in Quincy:

“I’ve always been in favor of it. I don’t know that the city needs to be in the electric business or even plans to be in the business, but they need to pursue it to where they can sell it off or lease it out. Maybe you let an electric company lease it. It’s a thing of the future. From all the designs I’ve seen, I think it’ll work. Nobody’s convinced me yet that it won’t work.”

On how the city handled the firefighter controversy:

“I guess some complained they didn’t hire Quincy attorneys, but I know Quincy attorneys were working with someone who specialized in this area. The firefighters have a whole other set of rules you have to follow, and we did everything that we felt was right. If people agree with the outcome or not, well, there isn’t much you can do about it. It was an expensive ordeal, but I don’t know if it was handled wrong.”

The last word:

“I’ve enjoyed (being an alderman). It’s an interesting job. There’s things that you just don’t understand how long it takes to get some of the stuff done. For example, we’ve got houses that need to be torn down or fixed or flattened, but there’s a year of legal stuff to go through to get that done.”

2nd Ward Preview: Bill Hrudicka

Posted by dadam – April 1, 2009

Hrudicka, BillAge: 68

Political party: Republican

Family: Divorced; children Carol, Mark, Robert, Daniel and Joanne; 11 grandchildren.

Occupation: retired; was self-employed doing accounting work in St. Louis County for nearly 35 years

Political experience: Election judge; served as Adams County coordinator for Steve Sauerberg’s failed campaign for the U.S. Senate seat in 2008

Other interests: Once belonged to several organizations but didn’t continue membership after retirement; volunteer for RSVP and Salvation Army.

Top issues:

• Disclosure in city government. “I want to open documents to the city through the Internet and have a budget posted so people know where the money’s being spent. There’s no compiled voting records of these (councilmen) to tell you what they’ve done. Trying to find something is impossible. I went to City Hall to get figures for the budget, and I was told I would be charged 25 cents per page. That’s not an open budget to me. … What few city council meetings I’ve been to, I’ve seen freight trains go slower through town than these meetings last.”

• Gutters and sidewalks. “We’ve got better alleys than we do streets. We’ve got streets that don’t have gutters or they don’t have sidewalks. We have to be careful about infrastructure, because the sewers are probably 75 to 80 percent too old. You can’t do something with street repair until you fix the sewers.”

• Abandoned property. “We’ve got abandoned houses galore.”

On the future of hydroelectric in Quincy:

“I know it’s a lot of money being spent and not too much has been done. I would love to see it come in, but I would like to see the city run it rather than sell it off to CIPS. This is one way we can lower the utility rates for the city, but I haven’t had too much backing on Quincy running it.”

On how the city handled the firefighter controversy:

“I couldn’t believe that when the committee met, they didn’t have a union contract in hand. We spent $400,000 on a Chicago attorney to find out we couldn’t fire them? That’s absolutely asinine ridiculous.”

The last word:

“(The campaign is) tough, there’s no doubt. At my age, it’s hard to go door-to-door, but I’ve got people working for me. Every bit helps. I’m not out doing a lot of fundraising. What money I’ve spent was given to me by the party, and I’ve done a couple of mailings. But I’m enjoying it, especially when people are willing to talk to me about problems.”